Iran agrees to open nuclear enrichment records

Iran has agreed to open records on its uranium enrichment activities, the chief UN nuclear weapons inspector said - a move that could give his experts a better grasp of a program the Security Council fears could be used for atomic arms. The concession - announced Thursday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency - appeared timed to blunt IAEA action against Teheran for its defiance of demands by the agency's board meant to reduce concerns of a hidden weapons program. Unmoved, the IAEA's 35-nation board denied Iran's request for technical help in building its Arak plutonium-producing reactor.